"What's the matter bud?" Thomas says to his best friend, Charlie, as he doesn't carry his huge smile today as usual.

"Oh it's nothing." replies Charlie who's obviously not as happy as he always is. Thomas would sure like to know how is friend is feeling; but he can't because there's no humanly way possible to if Charlie doesn't want him to know right? Well actually he can. There's a new kind of technology called Facial Action Coding System, or FACS, which enables computers to identify human emotions. The use of this technology to read the emotional expressions of students in a classroom is very valuable. Like in "Making Mona Lisa Smile" by Nick D'Alto, it could be used to show when a kid is becoming bored and let the teacher know so that the instructor could switch the lesson up to grab the kid's attention. Another effective was it could be used would be for it to show how some kids are feeling to limit them getting into any kinds of trouble. And finally it could be used to detect if one student just isn't grasping the matter of the subject that everyone else is getting with no problem. There are endless ways this technology could be used to better a classroom and this technology should be used in a classroom with students.

In the article, Nick D'Alto used a quote from Dr. Huang which was "'A classroom computer could recognize when a student is becoming confused or bored,' Dr. Huang predicts. 'Then it could modify the lesson, like an effective human instructor.'" In the sense that kids often time get bored in class, hence the reason they have a bad grade or get in trouble in that class, something has to change. Maybe it's the child's fault, but your traditional lesson isn't the most fun. If the instructor could find out what's boring the child and change the lesson to keep the child entertained then maybe the child wouldn't get into so much trouble with that teacher or maybe the child's grade in the class would take a huge leap. Who says learning can't be fun? With FACS learning could be something kids like to do.

In addition to keeping everyone awake, FACS could be used to keep people who aren't feeling too good get better. Everyone deals with things that others probably don't know about. With FACS a student could come into class like Charlie and no one knows about his frustrations so they try to do their normal jokes and games with him. If a student ever comes into class not feeling the best or not wanting to be bothered, FACS could sense that and instead of people messing with that kid or having that kid be bothered, that child could have the option of being away from everyone while the child cools down. That could stop the child from being involved in a physical altercation or any altercations at that.

Finally, everyone knows that all children learn at their own speed. FACS could be used to find out whose stuck on someting that everyone is flying through.

When the teacher is teaching something that everyone but one student understands and the teacher stops for questions, that one student may feel too embarrassed to ask a question so the lesson would go on and only get more difficult as time goes by. Instead of that happening, FACS would let the teacher know what kid that is so that the teacher could reach out to the kid and give them extra practice or even a little tutoring if they need it, that could really be a huge help to children that don't learn as fast as others. Usong FACS to determine that could really translate for the great or good of the grades of students everywhere.

In order to make the classroom a more happy place, a better place, FACS should be used with students. FACS could detect bordem so that no kid is bored enough to drift into space or sleep and miss valuable work time. FACS would be good for keeping kids that are dealing with things away from people that'll trigger them. Also FACS can be used to show weather or not children have questions and need help but are embarrassed to say so. The use of this technology to read the emotional expressions of students in a classroom is very valuable.    